Piece By Piece
by a.touch.eclectic
Summary: Emma has had her heartbroken many times. But she has also had many people in her life who have done all they can to repair the damage. One-Shot inspired by the song Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson


**Portland, Maine 2008**

Emma knocked on the door and shifted back and forth on the balls of her feet. She didn't know why she was doing this, but it was probably the only way she had to find her family. With no answer after a few moments, she ran the doorbell, continuing to take deep breaths to calm herself down. The door remained closed, and she considered walking away and forgetting all about this foolish endeavor. She knocked one last time, and heard steps coming from inside.

The door finally opened to reveal a guy with light brown hair, about twenty years old, who looked at Emma with confusion and slight annoyance. "If you're here to sell something, we're not interested, so you can just…"

"Is this the Swan residence?" Emma asked.

"Yes," the guy said with suspicion.

"My name is Emma. I'm looking for Matt and Sarah Swan."

The guy stared at her without responding.

"Could I speak with…"

"Matty, who's at the door?" a voice came from somewhere within the house. A middle-aged man appeared in the doorway. He matched the younger man's quizzical look, making it obvious that they were father and son.

"Uh, Dad, this is – Emma," Matty said. His father looked more closely at her, and Emma thought she saw recognition on his face.

"Matty, why don't you let me handle this?" He looked at his father with confusion, but did leave the two alone. Emma felt awkward standing on the porch, but she hadn't been invited in, so she just kept shifting back and forth.

"So, Emma. What can I do for you?" he asked.

Emma exhaled. "Are you Matt Swan?"

He gave a sigh of his own. "Yes. And I assume when you say your name is Emma, what you really mean is it's Emma Swan."

Emma heard the accusation in his voice, and wondered what she could have done to upset him. "So, you were my foster father. What happened?" she asked.

Matt spoke in a flat, emotion-less voice. "When Sarah and I first took you in, we thought we'd never have kids of our own. We were told that by being foster parents first, it would be cheap and easy to adopt you. But when you were three, we found out we were having our own baby, our son Matty. So we couldn't take care of you."

Emma couldn't believe how calmly he was saying all of this. He talked about giving up Emma as if she was a sweater someone grew out of. Suddenly, the dream of reconnecting with the family she could have had was just that – a dream.

"Is that why you're here? To find out why we gave you up?" Matt asked.

Emma shook her head, determined not to let her emotions catch up with her. "Do you know anything about my birth parents?" Maybe the dream was not completely destroyed; her real parents were possibly still out there.

Matt contemplated the question for a moment, then disappeared behind the door. Emma continued to stand there, not knowing why he left so suddenly. It only took a minute for Matt to return, and he passed her an old piece of newspaper.

"When you came to us, all you had was a blanket and this article. Sarah kept the article to show you when you got older, but then you went back, and…"

Emma glanced quickly at the piece of paper, but she wasn't ready to take in the information yet. "Where's Sarah?" She hoped that maybe the sentimental woman who had saved a news article for twenty-five years may have more sympathy for her.

Matt's face finally displayed some emotion, sadness. "She died five years ago."

"Oh, well… I'm sorry for your loss," Emma said.

Matt nodded and silence made the moment awkward. "I guess, I should go. Thanks for this." Emma waved the newspaper at him and walked back down the path to her bug. Matt barely acknowledged her leaving and shut the door before she had taken two steps.

The sound of the door shutting gave Emma the permission she needed to begin sobbing. She managed to get into her car through tear-filled eyes, but she couldn't trust herself to drive away. She had always known that there was some reason that she was not raised by the Swans, but she had never imagined that they had abandoned her, just as abruptly and effectively as Neal.

Emma gave the article in her hand a more effective reading. Each line made her more and more depressed. As far as she could tell, her entire life had been about people who had abandoned her. Her birth parents left her on the side of a freeway, the Swans didn't want her, every foster parent she had ever had sent her back, the one person who ever really cared for her turned out to be insane, Neal sent her to prison. There was no one in her life. She was alone.

 _Piece by piece he restored my faith_

Emma let Henry out of the car and he rushed to the gate. "Henry!" she called to stop him. When he turned around, she let him know where her thoughts were. "About what you said at the hospital, about me being able to leave…"

"Yeah?" Henry asked.

"See you tomorrow," she said to reassure him. And she did in fact see Henry the next day, taking him ice cream after school and eating it at the park.

It still amazed her that she had something, someone permanent in her life. The son that she had given up had found her and brought her to this strange town.

And it wasn't just her son who was making an impact on her life. As odd as it was for her, she was happy to be moving in with Mary Margaret. Her new job at the sheriff's station was probably her most permanent position in her entire life.

Henry jogged Emma out of her thoughts by dropping his ice cream on the sidewalk. He wasn't overly upset, but Emma still insisted on sharing the remainder of her cone.

"Thanks," Henry said.

"It's just ice cream," Emma said.

"No, I mean… thanks for staying."

Emma looked at Henry in confusion. She hadn't realized that he had picked up on her apprehension. She felt guilty that she had given him doubts. The last thing that she wanted was to ever make Henry feel like she had felt – abandoned. Hopefully, it would never happen.

"Hey, kid, there's something I need you to know. I know what it feels like to be left behind. I won't _ever_ do that to you."

"And I won't leave you," Henry said.

Emma gathered the boy into her arms, speechless in her gratitude that she had truly found someone who would stay in her life.

 _Piece by piece he collected me up_

"How am I going to tell Henry?" Emma asked rhetorically. David's response was to pull her closer and press his lips against her head. The simple gesture was enough to remind her that she wasn't alone any longer. She leaned her head against David, allowing him to be her strength.

They were both silent, processing their own grief separately, yet together. Emma had to admit that David's arm around her brought her more comfort than she had felt in a long time. "We'll get Tamara and Greg, I promise. They won't get away with this."

Emma gained great comfort by David's vow of revenge, but his continued presence was even more comforting. David was her father, and he was here for her, trying to make the world a better place, even if it was all falling apart.

She appreciated knowing that David was right beside her as she heard Regina's awful pronouncement that Greg and Tamara were in possession of some device that spelled destruction for the entire town. And when Hook showed up in a misguided attempt to get on their good side, she envied David the chance to sock Hook in the nose, while simultaneously grateful for his overprotective side. Seeing him hurt at Granny's, there was a moment when she wished she could have taken that bullet for him.

But it was in the mine, knowing that her life was about to end, that she really understood how she felt about him. He was her father, and in the brief moments they had left, she was going to let him know how she felt. "Mom, Dad," she cried and held them close, together through the end.

 _He restored my faith that a man can be kind_

"You traded your ship for me?"

"Aye."

Emma leaned forward not only to express her appreciation and gratitude, but also because of the rush of emotions coursing through her body. The most prominent feeling was amazement that she had someone in her life who would do something so selfless and caring.

Despite her early misgivings and annoyance of Hook's habits, she had to admit that he acted out of a strong moral center and the goodness of his heart. One thing she knew for sure, once Hook was on her side, nothing would move him from it.

Ever since Henry showed up in her life, she had had more and more assurances that the abandonment and loneliness of her childhood was gone. And Killian was the icing on the cake of her new life. As she looked back, she could see all the good Killian had done for her in the past.

He sailed them to Neverland and helped them defeat Pan, despite his abhorrence of the place. He found her in New York and brought her back to Storybrooke to save her family. He had been a strength and support for Henry as he dealt with the loss of the father he never knew. His intentions had been good, as ill-conceived as they were, to get Henry out of Storybrooke and away from Zelena. And while on their adventure through time, never once had he blamed her or wavered in his support.

He had been there for her through thick and thin, even if she had not fully appreciated it. She recalled something he had told her on Neverland, that he would win her heart; not through trickery, but through his honest intentions. She would never say anything out loud, but in all honesty, she had to admit that her heart was being drawn to him. She may have tried to half-heartedly push him away in the past, but now she was more interested in pulling him closer and exploring what was in store for the two of them.

 **AN: Thank you so much to the reviewers who let me know about the error in the original upload!**


End file.
